Shloka 128
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
तेनैव बालवेषेण श्रीवत्सकृतलक्षणम् | आसीन तं॑ नरव्याप्र पश्याम्यमिततेजसम्,नरश्रेष्ठ राजन! बाहर आकर देखा तो उसी बरगदकी शाखापर उसी बाल-वेषसे सम्पूर्ण जगत्को अपने उदरमें लेकर श्रीवत्सचिह्लसे सुशोभित वह अमिततेजस्वी बालक पूर्ववत् बैठा हुआ है
tenaiva bālaveṣeṇa śrīvatsakṛtalakṣaṇam | āsīnaṃ taṃ naravyāghra paśyāmy amitatejasam, naraśreṣṭha rājan |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O tiger among men, O best of men, O King—when I came out, I saw that very boy again, in the same childlike guise, seated as before upon the branch of that banyan tree. Marked with the auspicious Śrīvatsa sign and blazing with immeasurable splendor, he appeared as one who mysteriously contains the whole world within himself—revealing that the divine can dwell in the simplest form and that human perception is humbled before cosmic reality.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical-spiritual lesson that the divine may appear in humble, childlike form, and that human pride in knowledge is checked when confronted with a reality vast enough to ‘contain the world’—inviting humility, reverence, and trust in dharma beyond ordinary perception.
The narrator reports that upon returning outside, he again beholds the same radiant child seated on the banyan branch, distinguished by the Śrīvatsa mark and described as mysteriously encompassing the whole world within himself—an awe-inducing reappearance that confirms the child’s supernatural nature.